Creative Tips for Finishing or Hanging Stained Glass Windows & Projects

We get a lot of questions on hanging stained glass designs or finishing projects so they are shown off!

Randy, our residential glass art expert, has chosen some excellent ways to finish and/or hang your stained glass art.

One of our pieces is the balloon on the create stained glass home page that hangs in my son's bedroom in front of his window.

When the sun shines brightly inside the house, the pattern and colors give off a beautiful reflection of light. It is really cool to look at.

We have done several types of finishes on his pieces. Here is another great place where your creativity comes in handy.

**If the piece is small such as the size of a christmas ornament, make a loop with a thin copper wire and solders it to the top of the stained glass. Then take an ornament hanger to hang from a hook.

**We have a front door with several glass pieces. A couple of them had been broken. So Randy removed the molding strip around the glass, removed any caulking or glue, and cleaned the area after removing the broken pieces of glass.

If you tape the broken pieces together, this can be used two-fold: you can use this broken piece as a template for you new design, or it makes it easier to remove so you don't have glass all over the floor.

Finally, design the pattern the same size as the glass. Once your pattern is complete, put it in the area that was broken. You will need to recaulk and reapply the molding strips. This really adds beauty to the front door appearance.

Tip: If there is no molding strip and your stained glass is the full size of the window, use glazing push pins - several on the left and right to hold the glass to the window frame.

**With larger stained glass pieces, such as a 15"-20" round or rectangular pattern, make two small copper wire hooks soldered to the top of the stained glass. Take a gold chain that accents the pattern (chain can be found at any Home Depot or Lowes) and attach the single chain to each hook. Hangs the chain and centers it to the stained glass. Wait til the sun hits it. The light shining off the glass is amazing!!!

**One of our favorite finishes is to build a wood frame with a groove large enough to install the glass edges. Then use a wood base and attach it to the bottom of the frame. Next, stain the frame to a color that accents the glass. When it's all together, the stained glass will be able to stand in any location, whether a table, window sill, or bay window. Wood frames add a professional looking finish.

**Another option is to frame even the large stained glass pieces. One way is you can use larger hooks that screw into the top of the frame on the left and right side. Then you can put the connecting hooks in the window frame to be able to hang the design. The piece of stained glass can be of any size within the window frame.

Also, using this method lets the glass be able to move to a different location if you want. It is not a permanent location. Sometimes it's fun to move the hanging stained glass to different locations to see how they appear with the sunlight.

**Another one of our favorite methods is if you are putting a small design in a window you can also use a suction cup. The only key is you must be sure it is secure enough to hold.

You don't want all your hard work creating your stained glass art to drop and break. This method of hanging stained glass would only be recommended for very small pieces.

These are just a few ways of finishing and hanging stained glass art. Eventually we'll add some more ways and also have you input us on your favorites for showing off glass work.

Please share your insights, tips, and techniques on making stained glass that others will benefit from!